Break My Heart No More
by jkscott
Summary: Hermione Granger , a 24 year old writer, decided to give up on love. Draco Malfoy, the aristocrat has never believed in love. So what happens when they meet at a restaurant in Muggle London. Will sparks fly? Or just hexes?
1. Just Another Bad Day

_Disclaimer: So you all know I don't own any of these people. They all belong to JK Rowling. Even though I do wish I owned Rupert __Grint__. Hmm. That would be nice. _

Chapter One: Just Another Bad Day

_"Ring" _

_"Ring" _

_"Ring"_

_**"Hi you've reached Hermione Granger. I'm not home right now but leave a message and I'll be sure to call you back… Unless of course you are my LYING-GOOD-FOR-NOTHING-ASSHOLE-CHEATING-EXBOYFRIEND. Then never call me back. Goodbye."**_

_"… Hermione…. It's__ Justin __your good for nothing lying cheating asshole of an ex-boyfriend. Hermione baby, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. She met nothing to me. You know that. Listen. Please call me. I'm go-"_

_"Ring" _

_"Ring" _

_"Ring"_

_**"Hi you've reached Hermione Granger. I'm not home right now but leave a message and I'll be sure to call you back… Unless of course you are my LYING-GOOD-FOR-NOTHING-ASSHOLE-CHEATING-EXBOYFRIEND. Then never call me back. Goodbye."**_

_".. The machine cut me off. Listen I'm going crazy. Please forgive me. I'll do anything… I… I love you__. Please call me…. Please Hermione. Think about what we've been through. Three years Hermione, three years__ Please just think this through, we're suppose to get married next week Mione. Throwing me out of the apartment is a little much. Just call me. Please.__"_

_"Ring" _

_"Ring" _

_"Ring"_

_**"Hi you've reached Hermione Granger. I'm not home right now but leave a message and I'll be sure to call you back… Unless of course you are my LYING-GOOD-FOR-NOTHING-ASSHOLE-CHEATING-EXBOYFRIEND. Then never call me back. Goodbye."**_

_"Hey Herms it's Gin. Interesting message by the way. Look Hermione __it's been a week. Justin was a git__, you know that. Hey let's get something to eat, Harry said he would watch James. Now I know why they call it the terrible twos. I swear sometimes that boy drives me up the wall. Anyways! I'll be there in thirty minutes. Don't mess with me. Don't forget I'm pregnant an__d hormonal. I'm thinking Japanese__?"_

Thirty minutes later Ginny popped out of Hermione's fireplace just as she had promised. Looking around the spacious living room Ginny was surprised at what she saw. The place was.. well… clean. Hermione had long ago dropped her habit of organizing everything and only cleaned when she was upset. The apartment she had shared with her fiancée Justin had never been dirty, but it was never this clean. AT the moment it t was spotless, and that scared Ginny.

"Hermione" Ginny called walking from the white living room into the small kitchen decorated in yellow. No Hermione there. 'Oh my' Ginny thought, 'the kitchen is even cleaner than the living room'. Now Ginny was becoming worried. 'Where is that girl?' As Ginny left the kitchen and began her way down the hall she began to walk a bit faster. As she neared the bedroom door she could hear a whimper come from inside. Ginny gasped when she opened the door and finally found her best friend.

Hermione was curled into a fetal position lying on the ground, her face was red and puffy from days of crying, her hair was a tangled and dirty, and she was wearing a pair of Justin's boxers and his college sweater. Her sobs only grew when she looked up and met Ginny's eyes. "Oh Gin" she whispered, "Why? Why would he do this to me after three years? Three bloody years! We're supposed to be getting married and he's banging his secretary! For a year Gin. A whole year." Ginny knew how to fix this.

Two hours passed and the two girls were now seated at Hermione's kitchen table, a gallon of ice cream in the middle and each holding a spoon. The hours had seemed to fly by as the girls discussed the last few years of their lives; Ginny and Harry's wedding, James' birth, Snape becoming headmaster of Hogwarts, and even the night the two girls had met Justin McGreggor at a wizard bar in London. The same Justin McGreggor who had created such happiness and grief in the last three years of Hermione's life. The very same Justin McGreggor who Hermione had thrown from her apartment just a week before, after his pregnant secretary had called their home demanding child support.

"I should have known," Hermione muttered stuffing another mouthful of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream into her mouth, "the signs were all there. Working late at night. Getting 'emergency' calls from the office in the middle of the night and having to run off. I mean he sells broom sticks for Merlin's sake. What kind of emergency could there have been? I guess I just wanted to ignore it hoping it would stop".

"Don't blame yourself," Ginny said narrowing her eyes, "this is him Hermione. It's all his fault. Think of everything you gave up for him. You are an amazing writer Hermione, and you had an awesome chance to go to New York and write for a huge magazine. But you gave up that chance for him. You didn't do this Herms. Don't ever blame yourself! You were the perfect girlfriend. "

"Okay Gin, I got it." Hermione rolled her tear filled eyes in a dramatic fashion. "Bloody git."

"There we go! That's more like it," Ginny said jumping from her seat, "Now let's get you all fixed up and go get something to eat. I'm starved. I heard there's this amazing Japanese restaurant in Muggle London. Are you down for a little adventure?"

After a few spells to fix herself up Hermione was ready to go. Her job at a fashion magazine had undoubtedly helped her style. Her once frizzy brown hair now fell to her shoulders and was usually straight, with a few highlights to lighten it up. She even had what she called side bangs. Though she didn't wear much makeup, she wore a little eye makeup to help her caramel eyes pop against her lightly tanned skin. A few freckles were scattered across her nose, and her teeth were no longer oversized. Throwing her leather Coach bag over her shoulder she took a quick look in the mirror for a final inspection.

She was wearing dark denim jeans with her favorite black flats and fitted white button up shirt that she left untucked. Maybe not her best fashion choice of the season, but definitely better than the wreck she had been three hours ago.

Draco Malfoy hated Muggle London. He didn't hate muggles, no that part of his life was long gone, he just hated Muggle London. People ran around as if they were crazy most of the time, and Draco had almost been hit by muggle vehicles on two different occasions. Needless to say he was quite upset when his best mate Blaise Zambini had insisted they try the new Japanese restaurant in Muggle London. Oh the humanity.

A/N: So what do you think???? Hmm? Sorry it's really short. I promise it will be longer next time. And I didn't really review it that well so if it has some mistakes I'm sorry. Man… I'm a little rusty at this. I mean after all it's been four years since I wrote on here last. So REVIEWS? Please?


	2. A Hit and Run

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this. It all belongs to JK. Rowling…. Lucky.

A/N: I would like to thank everyone who left comments on the last chapter. Really guys, thanks a lot. It really helps. I swear. I know I didn't really talk about Ron, but I promise I'll explain everything soon. And it mostly follows the books (except the epilogue in the seventh book, and a few other things). Mostly I wrote that they went back and finished their seventh year. Like I said, I'll explain everything as it comes up. Alright. Here we go.

**Chapter Two: A Hit and Run**

With Ginny dragging her, quite literally, down the sidewalk of a busy London street, Hermione tried to convince her friend once again that perhaps going out wasn't such a great idea.

"What if I see him," Hermione said trying to free her hand from the red head's tight grip, "and her. Oh god Gin, I would just die".

"Relax Hermione," Ginny exclaimed rolling her chocolate eyes for affect "why in the world would they be in a muggle Japanese restaurant. Justin doesn't even care for Japanese food if I remember right".

"Well he didn't care for cheaters either Gin. I guess times change."

Times had changed quite dramatically in the years following the war. Harry had of course beaten Voldemort, everyone believed that he could. With everyone's help he had overthrown the darkest wizard of all time, and then married the love of his live. Ginny. Hermione's best friend. Hermione thought back to a time when Harry and Ron had been her best friends. 'The golden trio' she thought with a snort 'oh how times have changed'. Though her and Harry were still very close, she didn't think her and Ron would ever be best friends again. Not after how he had treated her. Yes, times had definitely changed.

Hermione was soon brought out of her thoughts as they came upon the entrance of the restaurant and she walked into what felt like a brick wall, falling to the ground with an ungraceful thud. A wall she noticed from her current position on the ground, which was quite muscular, with a tight gray sweater, and extremely shiny black shoes. Still lying on the ground, she slowly let her eyes travel from the shoes, to the sweater, and finally to the face. The face that seemed slightly familiar. Gorgeous, but familiar. Her eyes traced over the man's pale face settling for a moment on his worried eyes. Silver pools narrowed a little in concern, one perfect white eyebrow arched for affect.

"Are you okay?" the man said slowly lowering his hand towards her.

"Uh. Yeah thanks," Hermione said not taking her eyes of his as she gripped his hand with hers.

With a small pull Hermione was suddenly on her feet, and her head immediately started throbbing. The man looked at Hermione holding her head, and raked a hand through his white-blonde hair. "Maybe you should get your head looked at, you whacked it pretty hard on the ground".

Hermione blushed a little under his concerned gaze. "I'm sure I'll be okay. My friend's a medi-witch, she can take care of me. Thanks again though".

And without another word, the man nodded and followed his dark haired friend into the restaurant. Behind her, Hermione heard a low whistle. "Mmm hmm", Ginny said with a smirk on her face, "He was pretty sexy"

"Yeah," Hermione whispered her voice a little hoarse "he sure was".

Ginny smirked, a curious look on her face, "Yep, but I wonder why Draco Malfoy is in _Muggle_ London?"

And once again Hermione Jane Granger felt as if she had hit a brick wall.

---

Draco had been standing in line for the "hottest new restaurant in London" (as Blaise put it), when someone ran into him, falling quite hard on the concrete.

'Great', Draco thought with a groan, slowly turning around to see who it was, 'why do I always get slammed into when I'm in London?"

Looking down he saw a woman laying spread eagle on the ground. Though her brown and blonde hair was partially covering her face, he could see she was obviously quite pretty. Maybe his day was turning around after all. He watched her lift a small hand to wipe the hair from her eyes, and noticed her eyes were quite lovely as well. Honey eyes with little swirls of chocolate around the middle. There was something about her face, something quite familiar. He studied her face, trying to remember if they had met, until he noticed something. She was checking him out, all the while muttering something about bloody brick walls. He watched as her eyes slowly traced his body, starting at his feet and finally settling on his eyes. They locked eyes for a moment until he finally reached out a hand and helped her up. Watching the woman wince in pain, he mentioned she might need to seek medical attention. She then pointed at her red haired friend but Draco didn't even hear what she said. A wave of realization washed over him. This woman he knew for sure. Little Ginny Weasley. Draco had seen her about six months ago when he was rushed to St. Mungo's with a broken arm. Bloody hell, if that was Weasley, then that had to make this lovely brunette…. Granger. Suddenly he realized why he was so drawn to her eyes, and his mind shot back to five years before when the two had shared a passionate kiss outside the Great Hall. A kiss he had never forgotten, but could never relive.

'Oh god,' Draco thought a knot suddenly forming in his chest, 'I have to get out of here'. Without another word Draco rushed into the restaurant behind a snickering Blaise Zabini.

"You know who that was right?" Blaise said behind his hand, trying to hide his laughter.

"Yeah," was the only reply Draco could muster, "Bloody Granger".

And then, on cue, the two women passed them on the way to their table. Hermione with a slight blush gracing her face, and Ginny with a smirk that would put most Slytherin to shame. Draco couldn't help but stare as she walked away. Such a nice bum.

"Sorry mate, but I don't think they sell that on the menu. You could try and order it but she might be upset". Blaise said all this with a small smirk on his face, and Draco wanted nothing more than to slap it off.

Why was Granger suddenly so attractive? Why couldn't she have stayed the bushy haired know-it-all he had grown to ignore? Then again, Hermione had always been beautiful, even in school. She had just chosen to hide it under huge mounds of hair, baggy clothes, and huge stacks of books. It wasn't until their seventh year that Draco really began to notice how lovely Hermione truly was. Being head boy and girl meant they would spend a lot of time together. At first, Draco had been repulsed. The thought of spending time with a mudblood was highly unappealing, and he told her this everyday for the first month. Then something extremely odd happened.

_Flashback…_

_"You know Granger, __I could send one owl to my father and have you replaced as head girl. Imagine how upset he was when we found out I would have to share a common room with a MUDBLOOD" Draco drawled with a disgusted sneer on his face, "Your germs are everywhere. It's disgusting."_

_Then it happened. Instead of the usual yelling that would follow one of Draco'__s demeaning __statements__, she laughed. Hermione had the audacity to laugh and shake her head at his antics.__ He glared at her from across the common room. _

_"You think you have it bad?"__ Hermione said laughing at him from across the room__, "Imagine liv__ing with you. You hog the bathroom for__ two hours __every bloody morning, __yet look the same as when you woke up. You leave your nasty socks in the common room floor and let your disgusting Slytherin friends hang out in here, as if you're the only one living here.__ You're an egotistical jerk and quite disgusting.__"_

_She wrinkled her nose as if he was something disgusting, __and then__ began to walk towards him, finally backing Draco against the wall. Standing on her tiptoes, she leaned forward so their noses were centimeters apart. _

_"When Crabbe and Goyle decide to drop by for one of their nice little chats I ca__n actually feel my IQ dropping, and don't even get me s__tarted on Zabini, he's almost as disgusting as you are. Both of you walk around this school as if you own it, with a different whore on your arm each week.__"_

_She continued to lean closer and suddenly their noses were touching. Her eyes were intoxicating. __Suddenly her eyes glazed over in what Draco could only guess was hurt. He wanted so badly to force his lips on hers and take her as his own. Her eyes narrowed, and she finally pulled her face __back a few inches __away from his. _

_"I may be a mudblood," she spat the word at him, "but __I will never be as low as you and your deatheater friends. So sod off __Malfoy__."_

_And with that she quickly turned and ran up the stairs, a final slam of her door letting him know the conversation was over. It was at that moment Draco Malfoy realized Hermione Granger was no longer the shy little bookworm she use to be__….._

----

Draco's mind was quickly pulled to the present by his best friend tapping his fork on the table quite loudly. He couldn't help but be worried as he realized Blaise's eyes were unfocused and his smirk had suddenly become a full-blown grin.

"So Draco," Blaise finally said looking into his friends eyes with a plastic smile, "do you still need a date to that quidditch banquet?"

Already knowing what his best friend was thinking, Draco began to shake his head. Being the seeker for the Wellington Wasps meant he must attend the annual banquet for all professional quidditch teams. The last three years he had taken his ex-fiancée Pansy Parkinson, but as they had broken up almost a year ago, she would not attend this year. He was considering not going, but his manager (Blaise) assured him that he HAD to go.

"No!" Draco said continuing to shake his head, "I know what you're going to say Blaise and no. I'm not going with Granger... No way Blaise."

"Listen Draco," Blaise had a plan, and that scared Draco quite a bit, "just go for it. Rumor has it she's recently become single and quite a successful fashion writer for Witches Weekly. Also, quite a few people fancy she'll be the next fashion editor. Not to mention she's bloody brilliant, and beautiful."

Draco studied his friend's face, a small smirk gracing his pale face. "Since when are you an expert on Hermione Granger?"

"Well," at this Blaise seemed to falter for a second, but soon regained his composure, "My new lady friend Camille happens to be her personal assistant."

"You mean your latest shag?" the blonde asked with a smirk.

"Speaking of shags," his dark haired best friend said avoiding the question altogether, "you know a girl on the rebound is always willing to shag nice guys like ourselves, and Hermione Granger is definitely on the rebound."

This idea was almost too much to turn down. Granger was beautiful. Looking across the restaurant Draco finally located the brunette across the restaurant. Her head was thrown back as she laughed, her eyes gleaming in happiness, and her tan skin glowing under the dim lighting. Watching her laugh, Draco knew what he had to do.

"Fine," he said raking his hands through his hair with a sigh, "I'll go with Granger. Set it up _manager_."

-----

Walking past Malfoy and Zabini's table was highly uncomfortable for Hermione. She could feel both men's gaze on her but held her head high and walked past with all the Gryffindor courage she could muster. When she and Ginny were finally at their table, Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. Watching Ginny try to situate her six month pregnant stomach behind the table comfortably gave Hermione a quick shot of jealousy.

'That should be me,' she thought with tears welling in her eyes, 'Why did Justin have to ruin everything?'

"Come on Herms," her ginger-haired friend said with a pleading look in her eyes, "We're here to get happy… So get happy. Don't make me get hormonal. I've been carrying this little kick boxer in here for six months. Turns out she likes to use my bladder as a punching bag".

So that's exactly what they did. They spent the next thirty minutes thinking back on the happier times they had shared, and the times they would share in the future. In a few months baby Lily would arrive and the Potter's life would be changed forever. The two women shared a laugh as they thought back to the birth of James and how frantic Harry had been while waiting in the waiting room of St. Mungo's. He had paced back and forth for hours waiting for his first born to arrive, and when the time finally came he had jumped into the air screaming at the top of his lungs. Harry then hugged everyone in the waiting room, including those who weren't there for Ginny, and began handing out cigars.

At this Hermione burst out laughing, throwing her head back unable to control her giggles. It was then that her eyes met Malfoy's from across the restaurant. She was unable to control herself from staring. She then watched as Zabini seemed to say something that upset Malfoy. He raked his hands through his gorgeous blonde hair, sending a chill down Hermione's spine. How was it possible for him to turn her on from across an entire restaurant?

It wasn't until Ginny began tapping her fingernails against the hardwood table that Hermione was brought back to earth. The two then began talking about the upcoming Professional Quidditch Banquet. It was Harry's first year as seeker for Puddlemere United, and he had to attend. Ginny wasn't that excited about wearing dress robes to the event as she would be nine months pregnant by then, but was ready to meet some of her favorite pro players.

The two women were so engrossed in their conversation of sexy quidditch players, that they didn't notice as a dark haired wizard walked up to their table. Blaise Zabini was a man on a mission as he walked to their table. He had matchmaking to do.

---

A/N: So…. What do y'all think? Hmmm? Comment are always appreciated.

Thanks to:

Emschmem- I'm glad you liked the answering machine. Haha. It's my favorite.

Kk1999- thanks. I appreciate it a lot.

Nangini- Glad you like it. Hope you like the new chapter

Wasu- Thanks so much. Hope you like the new chapter too.

Vinwinz- Thanks. Haha. Yeah sorry. I had Zabini but I guess when I was doing word check it changed it. Oops. Thanks for pointing it out.


	3. A Not So Blind Date

Disclaimer: So we all know the drill. I do not own Harry Potter or any other characters.

A/N: So I strayed a little from the original story line from Dear Old JK. I'm really sorry guys but I could not let Fred die. I just couldn't. So please don't hate me. Alright here we go.

**Chapter Three: Not So Blind Date**

Hermione held her head high as she watched Blaise Zabini approach their table. His dark skin contrasted so greatly with Malfoy's ghost like complexion that it was as if you were looking at day and night. As he approached the table he raked a hand through his shiny hair. Once longer in length and quite curly, Blaise now wore his black hair short and spiked in different directions on the top of his head. Finally reaching the table, he shot the two women a breathtaking smile. Hermione could barely hold in her gasp, considering her parents were dentists she had grown to somewhat admire people with beautiful teeth. Blaise Zabini's teeth were beyond beautiful, they were perfect. She soon found it hard to stop staring at his smile, and staring at it made it only grow in size. He was now sporting a full blown grin.

"Enjoying the view Granger?" He asked, his smile becoming even larger.

"What do you want Zabini?" was all Hermione could manage, her voice almost a whisper.

"Tisk tisk tisk," Zabini rolled his eyes at her feeble attempt at a comeback. "Have you finally gone soft Granger? That's the best you could come up with?"

Shaking his head in mock disappointment, Zabini sat himself in the empty seat between the two women, picked up an egg roll and began to eat it. "Not to worry though ladies, I'm here on business- not pleasure" he added with a wink.

Hermione's eyes narrowed in suspicion and across the table Ginny's eyebrows had almost disappeared into her hairline. Finally the red head spoke up, "What kind of business Zabini?"

"Well as I hear it Ms. Granger here is recently single, and in desperate need of a rebound to make her cheating ex jealous," at this both women's mouths dropped open in surprise. "Also I know a young, very handsome, extremely wealthy manager who needs a date for his client. This particular client happens to be a professional quidditch player who is in need of a date for this upcoming ban-".

"No" Hermione interrupted, "No no no no no no no no no."

"So that would be a ye-"

"No Zabini. That would be a no."

"So you'll think about it then?"

"No" Hermione yelled across the table, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Listen Granger," Blaise said standing up, "Just think about it. Draco really is a nice guy". And with that he stalked back across the restaurant.

"Geez Hermione," Ginny said smirking while shoving a bite of rice in her mouth, "Scream across the whole bloody restaurant".

"The nerve of Zabini, as if I would ever consider dating Malfoy. And I just broke up with Justin a week ago, why would he think I would even be ready to date another guy already. Wait a second- how did he know I just broke up with my boyfriend?" She asked with a scowl overtaking her features.

"Maybe he has spies," Ginny whispered wiggling her eyebrows. With that they were back to their fits of laughter.

---

Draco watched the scene unfold across the restaurant in horror. At first things seemed to be going well, then Grangers eyes narrowed, and Blaise threw himself into the empty seat between them. Blaise must have said something stupid because both women's mouths shot open, and soon Granger began yelling 'no' over and over. Sometimes Blaise could be such a dolt. Finally Blaise stood from the chair he had been occupying, and bent down to whisper something to Granger.

After a brisk walk back to the table, he plopped himself back in his seat and began to eat his food. Draco stared at Blaise chewing his food for a few minutes before he finally spoke up.

"So?" he said trying to sound as if he didn't care, "What did Granger say?"

"Oh, she said no. And then no again. And then no over and over. It was actually kind of embarrassing for you." Was all Blaise said still stuffing his stupid face with rice, "don't worry though, I'm sure we can find _someone_ for you to go with."

"How dare she?" Draco sputtered, "Why is she acting as if I'M not good enough for HER? Does she know who I am? I'm a very famous quidditch player, not to mention extremely good looking. How could she... I never… I mean... What was she thinking?"

---

Blaise simply stared at his friend in amusement. He knew exactly what he was doing. Draco only ever wanted what he couldn't have, and at the minute he couldn't have Hermione Granger. Blaise sat and watched his friend try to form a complete sentence, silently counting until it would happen. 1-2-3- And with that Draco stood with a huff, and stalked across the restaurant to the little table occupied by the two women.

'Bloody hell' Blaise couldn't help but be amused as he watched his friend talking to Granger. First her mouth was open in surprise, and then her eyes narrowed. 'Oh no,' he thought, 'Get out of their while you still can Draco'. But it was too late.

Granger jumped from her seat, sending the chair flying backwards. She was soon face to face with Malfoy and yelling at him while her face began turning red. After a few seconds, her face was the color of a tomato and her eyes were narrowed into slits. Yet Draco refused to give up. He continued to talk, waving his hands for affect, until Weasley stood up. Now, Draco was being yelled at by two women, one of which was pregnant. Blaise was somewhat impressed by his best friend's courage, even with two women screeching he continued to talk. Finally the two women had enough. Throwing money on the table, they quickly left the restaurant leaving Malfoy at the table alone.

When Draco reached the table his face was pale and eyes wide. "What happened?" Blaise asked with amusement, "Got shot down?"

Through his chuckles Blaise barely hear his friend as he whispered, "I got a date".

Looking up Blaise was nearly blinded by Draco's bright smile. "Not for the banquet of course, that's in three months but I got a date. It was scary mate, but I landed a date with Granger, tomorrow night."

--

As Hermione entered her apartment she dropped her keys and bag on the side table, and closed the heavy door behind her loudly. Slowly she turned, facing the door, and placed her forehead on the cool wood. Thinking about what had happened at the restaurant, Hermione began to slowly lift and drop her head against the door. For a few minutes, she did this listening to the light thud of her skull against the hard wood. Somehow, after being around Draco for only a few minutes, she had agreed to go on a date with him- tomorrow night. Walking towards the kitchen she began to think over what had unfolded over the last half hour.

When he had walked to their table with a scowl on his face, Hermione believed it would be quite easy to turn him down. Unfortunately for her, Draco Malfoy was quite persistent. Even after she had told him she would rather be eaten alive by a Flobberworm than date him, he stood his ground. He insisted that attending the banquet with him would benefit both of them. Ginny had then stood and began yelling that Hermione "did not need any bloody help with her bloody career", which Malfoy only answered with a smirk and roll of his silver eyes. Then, for reasons still not known to her, Hermione had told him they would go on a date the next night (to see what would happen) and quickly left the restaurant with a stunned best friend.

"No," she said aloud shaking her head in disbelief, "There is no way in bloody hell I'm going on a date with bloody Malfoy."

"Come on love, the bloke can't be that bad" answered a voice from behind her, causing Hermione to whip around in surprise.

The man that stood before her had shaggy blonde hair and green eyes that were glazed over in a mixture of intoxication and anger. His frame of six feet towered over Hermione's five foot four stature. Cocking one eyebrow, the man's lips turned up into a snarl and he attempted to walk across the small living room towards her. Staggering quite a bit, he stopped halfway to grip the corner of the couch for support.

"Justin," Hermione began taking a few steps back, "I don't think you should be here. You don't live here anymore remember?"

Justin cocked his head to the side and stared at the woman before him. "Hermione, love, I live here and I'll come when I bloody well feel like it. You haven't answered my calls so I thought I would stop by for a little chat. Now who's this Draco bloke who's trying to steal my girl's heart?"

Finally gaining his balance, Justin took the last few steps separating him from Hermione and grabbed her wrist. Tightening his grip on her small wrist, Hermione let out a sharp gasp of pain.

"Let go Justin," she whispered to him, "You're hurting me."

As his eyes flashed with anger, a knot began to form in Hermione's chest. The next thing she knew Justin's fist had crashed into her left eye, and she was falling to the ground. After landing on her back against the white carpet, her mouth fell open in surprise and her eyes filled with tears of pain and heartbreak. Justin bent down, grabbing her arm and yanking her up, while keeping his raging green eyes locked on her hurt brown ones.

"Why?" Was all she could get out before his fist met her face once again. Falling back her head crashed into the coffee table, making the world become fuzzy. Watching Justin bend down and caress her face, she slowly allowed herself to float into black oblivion as he continued to kick and punch her. Hours had passed before Hermione finally became conscious and was able to reach the phone. Her fingers found the familiar numbers and she heard the rings from the other end.

--

Being six months pregnant was not fun for Ginny Weasley, and being woken up at three in the morning while pregnant was even less fun. When she woke up, Lily woke up and refused to go back to sleep. Even after her first pregnancy it was hard to ignore having your bladder kicked. So needless to say, Ginny Weasley was quite upset when her telephone rang at three in the morning. Reaching over to her bedside table Ginny raised the receiver and pulled it to her ear.

"Hello" she croaked.

"Gin. I need you," her best friend's voice whispered from the other end, "I'm hurt really bad."

Suddenly Ginny Weasley was very alert. "What's wrong Mione," she asked bolting from the bed and flipping on the light. She watched Harry turn in his sleep and almost felt bad that she would have to wake him. She began shaking him while asking Hermione what was wrong again.

"Justin", was all she muttered before the line went dead. Ginny began to panic, and Lily was awake and kicking.

Finally waking Harry she told him what had happened while he threw on a shirt and pulled her into the living room. Throwing floo powder into the fireplace the couple shouted out Hermione's address, and were off to rescue their friend.

Landing in Hermione's living room the sight that met their eyes was unbelievable. Hermione's glass tables were all broken, littering the ground with shards of beautiful glass. Pictures that hung on the walls were all ripped down and broken, and a bouquet of roses that once graced the side table were thrown on the floor. The most disturbing thing was the crumbled figure of Hermione. She lay on the ground, still wearing her clothes from earlier in the day, curled into a fetal position. Her face was bruised and there was a large amount of dried blood visible in her matted hair. Her lips were both puffy and red, the bottom one busted with a little blood covering it. Ginny could not control the gasp that escaped her lips.

While Ginny rushed to Hermione's side and began mending some of her small injuries, Harry flooed St. Mungo's. Within a few seconds a wizard had appeared and was apparating to the hospital with Hermione. Ginny flooed right after, leaving Harry behind to deal with the mess. They both assumed Justin would be back, so Harry decided to call in some backup.

Picking up the receiver of the telephone in the kitchen, Harry dialed the number he knew quite well. After a short conversation with a sleepy red head, two distinct pops were heard in the living room. Walking into the other room Harry couldn't help but laugh at the two men in front of him. Fred and George Weasley stood in the middle of the room in identical purple pajamas. Both were still half asleep, and their hair was sticking in every direction possible.

"Don't laugh mate-" George started peering at Harry.

"-Because you look just as bad."Fred finished.

"I'm sure I do," Harry peered over his glasses at the twins, "But that's not what's important here. What's important is that Hermione is lying in a hospital bed and it's all because of bloody Justin."

"I never liked that bloke." George commented raking his hand through his mangled hair, "Always was an arse to dear old Hermione."

"Let's get him" Fred muttered with a flash of anger in his sky blue eyes.

The three men mustered up as much Gryffindor courage as they possessed, and began their hunt. They would hunt down the man who had hurt their friend, and show him what pain really meant.

---

Camille Jones was sleeping in her four-poster bed, a heavy arm wrapped around her waist, when her telephone began to ring. She looked at the digital alarm clock on her bedside table; it flashed 3:45 am. Great. She tried to gently remove the arm around her waist, and watched as the man moved in his sleep. Quietly she left the room and walked into the living room where her phone was located. The moon was shining bright through the picture windows and the grass outside danced in the moonlight. Camille reached down and pulled the receiver to her ear.

"Hello?" her voice croaked a little from being woken up.

"Camille, this is Ginny Weasley. I need your help."

What could her boss's best friend need help with? Suddenly Camille became a little upset. Could they really expect her to work at four in the morning? Really. She knew Hermione was bossy but this was ridiculous!

"Yea sure. What do you need?" Camille asked trying to mask her annoyance.

"Well," Ginny started, a hint of sadness in her tone, "Hermione is in the hospital. Apparently Justin came back to their apartment and beat her really badly. She hit her head on something, and then he beat her some more".

Camille couldn't speak. Suddenly her throat became very constricted, and she couldn't stop tears from rolling down her tanned face.

"Is she okay?" It was all she could ask between her sobs.

"Yeah she's doing a lot better," the other woman answered in a soothing tone that only a mother could possess, "She's still asleep but she's all healed up. They're just keeping her overnight to keep an eye on her. But I need a big favor from you. Are you up to it?"

"Anything." She answered through tears.

"Well, I can't leave her here in case he comes for her. So I need you to floo to her flat and get about a week's worth of clothes. She'll probably be staying with us and she doesn't have anything over there. Harry should be over there so you should be okay but just in case take your wand and hex the hell out of him. Okay?"

"Alright," she answered rubbing her face with her hand, "St. Mungo's?"

"Yes" was Ginny's only reply.

"I'll see you in half an hour," Camille answered. The two women said their goodbyes and she ran as fast as she could back to her bedroom.

Camille flipped on the lights and began searching for clothes, ignoring the grumbling man in her bed.

"Blood hell," he growled sitting up with squinted eyes, "What are you doing Camille?"

"Hermione," was all she said pulling on a pair of jeans.

"Granger?" her boyfriend asked from his place on the bed. "What about her."

"Her ex-boyfriend put her in the hospital. I have to head over to her flat to get some clothes."

She pulled a gray t-shirt over her head and threw on a pair of flats, while searching for her keys. The dark haired man merely mumbled and went back to sleep. Walking to the edge of the bed, Camille placed a quick kiss on his lips and apparated to Hermione's flat.

---

Blaise had been fast asleep when a ringing phone woke him up. Slowly the woman next to him stirred, cursing under her breath, and silently left the dark room to answer the call. Blaise slowly drifted off to sleep and was awoken again a few minutes later. Camille had reentered the room and then began slamming around and flipping on lights. She was clearly upset but Blaise was too sleepy to care. He tried to sleep through the noise but found it impossible. Finally he sat up with a huff and asked what she was bloody doing. She began to explain what was going on but he could care less.

Blaise lay back down and tried once again to get back to sleep. He had a busy morning the next day and he needed a full night's rest to do so. Soon the lights were flipped back off and Camille left with a small pop. A few seconds after she disapperated, reality sunk in.

Blaise sat up in bed when he suddenly realized why his girlfriend had been so upset. Hermione. Justin. Hospital. All the fragments he had heard suddenly formed a complete sentence. Justin had beaten Hermione and she was now in the hospital. He had to call Draco.

---

Across the city Draco Malfoy was sleeping in his comfortable King sized bed, dark satin sheets wrapped across his naked body. Suddenly Draco was awakened by a small pop. Looking through the dark he could make out a tall figure. With a flip of the lights his best friend Blaise became visible. The dark haired man looked panicked and rushed to the side of the bed.

"We have to go."

--

A/N: So?

And I'm kind of rushing to upload this chapter so I'll give a personal thank you to everyone next chapter.


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